Argentina

Party time

Néstor Kirchner tries to rule Peronism

WHEN Argentina's economy collapsed in late 2001, its political system tottered too. After street protests ousted Fernando de la Rúa from the presidency, four replacements came and went in rapid succession. The economy has since recovered vigorously, but Argentina's political parties have not.

What was essentially a two-party system has lost one of its pillars. The Radical Civic Union, a mainly middle-class party founded in the late-19th century, was the main political casualty of the collapse. It won just 2% of the vote in the 2003 presidential election. That was ironic: Mr de la Rúa, a Radical, was executing economic policies designed by his predecessor, Carlos Menem, a right-wing Peronist.

But the Peronists continue to be Argentina's dominant political movement, as they have been since Juan Perón, the populist colonel after whom it is named, first became president in the 1940s. Under Néstor Kirchner, elected president in 2003, and his wife, Cristina Fernández, who succeeded him last year, it is the Peronist left that is in the ascendant.

And yet Peronism remains an amorphous, faction-ridden shambles. Formally known as the Justicialist Party, the courts have prohibited any presidential candidate from using this name after the party failed to hold a primary in 2003. In that year, as in 2007, three different candidates calling themselves Peronists (but running for improvised parties) stood. This judicial freeze on the party was quite convenient for the Kirchners. They formed alliances both with leftist protest groups and with turncoat Radicals, one of whom is Ms Fernández's vice-president. She did not have to bother with a primary either.

In his new role as first man, Mr Kirchner has set himself the task of restoring Peronism's legal status as a party, and becoming its president. That reflects shifting political winds. Last year's election showed that the first couple's appeal is limited to the Peronists' historic base: the working-class of the Buenos Aires rustbelt and client groups loyal to provincial strongmen. They were shunned by the urban middle class. Moreover, once Argentina's economy slows, Ms Fernández may have less scope to buy off dissent. Formal party discipline might help to prevent defections.

Mr Kirchner this month coaxed back to the Peronist fold Roberto Lavagna, his former economy minister who ran against Ms Fernández with Radical support. But there are risks in his strategy. The more Mr Kirchner succeeds in uniting Peronism, the bigger the space that will open up for opposition outside the movement. “Peronism today is like a truck zig-zagging between lanes,” concedes Mr Lavagna. “Once it picks a lane and starts going straight, other cars can pass it.”

Indeed so. The opposition is even more split than the Peronists. Elisa Carrió, a former Radical, and Hermes Binner, the socialist governor of Santa Fe, have little in common with Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires who was once close to Mr Menem. But if he succeeds in bringing more coherence to Peronism, Mr Kirchner may set an example for his opponents.